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grip—the present condition of human communication can again be seen as returning to the
principle of orality, or ‗retribalisation,‘ to use Marshall McLuhan‘s argument, stating that
retribalisation implies ―a radical break from the abstract, linear rationality of print and a return to
the direct and unmediated character of oral culture.‖ 39 Would it be, then, too much to claim that it
was the technology that assisted/enabled the dominance of ‗fixed‘ narratives and representations
and that it was eventually that same technology which eventually brought us into an age where
orality is becoming dominant again? To quote Thomas Pettitt: ―The post-parenthetical period is a
reversion to the pre-parenthetical period at a higher level of technology.‖ 40 The question that
comes to mind here is: If we can see radio as the prime media enabler of the rise of totalitarian
regimes in the interwar period, can the internet be put to similar ab/use?
Be that as it may, if we take a look into the time of introduction and public adoption (invention,
innovation is not as important a factor) of any new technology of externalisation of memory, it is
clear that all new media technologies elicited as much doubt and substantial fear as they did
enthusiasm. In the domain of memory, media technologies are difficult not to be seen as
agents/facilitators of corruption of memory and remembering, predominantly because they often
seem to be taking on the ‗work of memory‘ that presumably should be the ‗burden‘ of humans. Or
at least this is how techno-sceptics would have it, ever since Plato expressed scepticism regarding
writing as a practice that weakens mnemonic skills. From a techno-enthusiast or technotopian
point of view, the technologising of memory can only be liberating. A more balanced stance
would propose to see the inevitable abundance of digitally communicable medial externalisations
of memory as a valuable source for studying the past. In order to highlight this point and because
memory is inevitably related to communication, it is in order to provide some more insight into
the history of human communication as conditioned by technologies.
A Peek Into the History of Human Communication
In the history of human communication there are five periods to be discerned, marked by
technological innovations (clearly the technologies are overlapping) enabling in different ways the
externalisation of memory: the oral age, the chriographic age, the print age, broadcast era and the
(video lecture) available from http://www.niemanlab.org/2010/04/the-gutenberg-parenthesis-thomas-pettitt-onparallels-between-the-pre-print-era-and-our-own-internet-age/.
39 Arvind Rajagopal, ―Imperceptible perceptions in our technological modernity,‖ 285.
40 Thomas Pettitt, ―The Gutenberg parenthesis: oral tradition and digital technologies,‖ Nieman Journalism Lab
Report, available from web.mit.edu/comm-forum/forums/gutenberg_parenthesis.html, accessed 22 October 2010.
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